Conservation Trail Ride Helps Show the Way

Conservation Trail Ride Helps Show the Way

By Marica Woolman

The Orange County Hounds fall Conservation Trail Ride started with a clear mission—environmental education with hands on experience that the participants surely will always remember.

Each year this ride finds ways to get better. Amy Johnson, with a doctorate in conservation ecology and program director of Virginia Working Landscapes, led the 2022 tour in October, with a focus on the integration of wildlife habitats into a working farm at Kinloch near The Plains.

Orange County Hounds Conservation Ride.

Photo by Marcia Woolman

By setting aside some of the land for natural meadows and preserving woods filled with native trees and shrubs, wildlife can coexist with cattle and hay fields. Johnson delivered her remarks from horseback so the other riders could see her examples and her explanations first hand. It was the perfect lesson in the perfect setting.

The OCH Conservation Foundation was created to preserve Northern Virginia’s rural landscape, protect wildlife habitats, and strengthen connections to nature through its support of traditional equestrian and sporting hound activities.

The recent ride included several focal points. The first involved riparian buffer projects, under the direction of Brian Mayell, who explained the process of adding native shrubs and trees along the streams on the farm to create stream banks filled with trees and undergrowth.

Why is this important? As riders stood near the stream in a small clearing, Mayell explained how dense cover along a stream keeps contaminants from entering the stream through filtration and purification by the roots of these plants. The pollutants might be coming from nearby roads, livestock pastures or fertilized fields, buildings, or equipment, all of which provide some measure of pollutants into the areas where they are located.

With a well-developed riparian buffer from 15 to to 30 feet wide on both sides of a stream, Mother Nature works her magic, protecting the watershed and providing critical wildlife habitat.

Another section of the farm explored by the riders was the creation or enhancement of natural meadows on this northern Fauquier property.

The important aspect of natural meadows is the replenishment of native grasses and shrubs. When they’re allowed to flourish, birds and other wildlife living there find the nourishment they need and they stay in the transformed meadows or natural openings in the woodland.

Under the direction of owner Andrea Currier and farming and conservation manager Mike Peterson, Kinloch Farm provides a textbook example of how a working farm can also sustain a wide variety of wildlife.

Currier hosted the OCH group at her activities building and discussed her philosophy of stewardship and the importance of creating a balance between farming and wildlife preservation. Johnson also gave a presentation on grassland birds and the native flora and fauna that attracts them.

Most important, participants were reminded that no matter the amount of land or resources an individual has, everyone can help protect waterways and enhance wildlife habitats by encouraging native plants and protecting wild spaces.

The information presented helped enhance the group’s understanding of the importance of letting nature show us the way.